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Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 2671 – 2676

2011 3rd International Conference on Environmental

Science and Information Application Technology (ESIAT 2011)

The Influence of Water Quality on Food Quality and the

Treatment of Water for Food Processing
Wujie 1, a, Zhufei 1, Xujing 2
1
The department of biology and food engineering, Bengbu College, Bengbu, Anhui, 233030
2
The department of Tourism, Bengbu Institute of Business and Technology, Bengbu, Anhui, 233000
qiyanwu@fastmail.fm

Abstract

This paper has discussed the influence of quality of water for food processing on the food quality and introduced the
source of water for food processing and the existing problems as well as described the basic requirements of water for
food processing and the various methods of water treatment.
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Conference ESIAT2011
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of [name organizer]
Organization Committee. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Keywords: water quality; food quality; method of water treatment

Introduction

The water for food processing mainly includes the water for raw materials, the water for processing and the
water for cleaning, etc. the water quality directly affects the food quality. The processing enterprises must
ensure that the quality of water for food processing is required to be inspected by hygiene and should meet
the related standards of hygiene. In order to ensure the food quality, except that the quality of water for food
processing should meet the standards of drinking water, some components in water still need to be strictly
controlled. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the quality of water for food processing has
played an important role in the guarantee of food quality.

The Influence of Water Ouality on Food

The impurities in water will cause a lot of impact on the food quality, mainly including the deterioration of
food color, the discoloration, the coloration, the abnormal odor, the abnormal smell, the turbidity, the
precipitation, the crystallization, the corruption and some others.
Chromaticity and Turbidity.The chromaticity and the turbidity of water are the basic indexes to test the
water quality, which are also the most obvious indexes of sense organs. If the two indexes exceed the
allowed figures, it will cause the phenomenons that the product is precipitated, the carbonation is difficult
and it is also easy to have the spouting (carbonic acid drink), which will affect the chromaticity of products.

1878-0296 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Conference ESIAT2011 Organization Committee.
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
doi:10.1016/j.proenv.2011.09.415
2672 Wujie et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 2671 – 2676

Abnormal Smell.Because of the physical or chemical factors, many of the water have the abnormal
odor itself, which is easy to affect the flavor of the finished products.
Hardness.The hardness of water mainly refers to the concentration of the calcium and magnesium ions
in water. The calcium and magnesium ions will produce the carbonate precipitation in the heating process.
And when the hardness is higher, it will cause a lot of problems such as the discoloration of finished
products, the turbidity, the precipitation, the change of flavor, the reduction of water binding capacity
(meat), the hardening (meat, bean products) and so on.
Alkalinity.The alkalinity of water depends on the contents of OH ǃCO32 and HCO3 which can be
ˉ ˉ ˉ

ˇ
combined with H in water. When the alkalinity is higher, it will cause the decline of fragrance, the
precipitation, the difficulty of carbonation of CO2 and the increased dosage of acidity regulations. In the
fermentation process, if the alkalinity is too high, it will not be conducive to the growth of yeast.
Others.The pH value will influence the discoloration of food, the precipitation, the deterioration of
fragrance and the corrosion of metal equipments. The phenol will cause the abnormal odor. The
dissociation chlorine will make the deterioration of finished products’ color, the discoloration, the
abnormal smell, the abnormal odor and the deterioration of spice. The dissolved chlorine can cause the
deterioration of food color, the discoloration, the abnormal smell as well as promote the corrosion of tank
wall. The nitrate will produce the abnormal odor and promote the corrosion of tank wall. The organic matter
is pollutional and not conducive to the carbonation of CO2 as well as the spouting produced by finished
products (carbonic acid drink). The heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Mn, etc.) will cause the deterioration of color, the
change of frangrance, the reversion of flavor and the precipitation as well as promote the decomposition of
oxidation rancidity and Vc. The microorganism will cause the corruption and the deterioration.

The Basic Requirements of Water for Food Processing

The water for food processing should meet the sanitation standards of national living drinking water, which
can’t contain the pathogenic microorganisms. The chemicals in water mustn’t be harmful to human health.
The radioactive materials in water mustn’t be harmful to human health. The sensory properties are good and
it must be conducted the disinfection treatment, etc.
The Index of Bacteriology.The pathogenic bacteria should not be contained and the total content of
bacteria should be low. The total number of bacteria should not be more than 100 in 1ml water and the
coliform shouldn’t be detected.
The Index of Toxicology.The content of various toxic ingredients (such as the fluoride, the cyanide, the
arsenic, the selenium, the mercury, the cadmium, the lead, the chromium and so on) should not surpass the
stipulation index.
The Index of Chemistry.It is required that the potential of hydrogen should be suitable, which
generally refers the pH value is from 6.5 to 8.5 and there is also having the crisp feeling in the mouth as well
as meeting the certain degree of hardness. At the same time, the content of iron ion, the manganese ion, the
zinc ion, the copper ion and some others should be limited.
Appearance.It is required to be colorless, odorless and not containing some materials which could be
seen, i.e. there is no suspended solid, the water floating material, the sediment, the microorganism, the
immature larva and some others.

The Source of Water for Food Processing and the Existing Problems

At present, the water for food processing mainly refers to the natural water and the natural water includes
the surface water and the underground water.
The surface water flows through the ground, containing some impurities such as the clay, the sand, the
weeds, the humus, the calcium magnesium salts, other salts and bacteria, etc. In recent years, because of the
 Wujie et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 2671 – 2676 2673

development of industry, a large number of wastewater containing some harmful ingredients is dispersed
into the rivers, which has polluted the surface water.
After the infiltration and the filtering of stratum, the underground water contains little silt, suspended
solids and bacteria. The water quality is relatively clear, but it has been integrated into various soluble
minerals, such as the bicarbonate of calcium, magnesium and iron. Its salt content is generally from
100mg/L to 5000mg/L. The hardness is approximately from 2mEq/L to 10 mEq/L and the higher hardness
is about from 10 mEq/L to 25 mEq/L.
The natural water has constantly contacted with the outside world in the cycle process of nature, which
has made the various substances in air, land and underground rock layers dissolved or mixed. Then the
water has been polluted in different degrees.

Water Treatment

In order to make the upscale food, the first thing is to have the fine water. And the water treatment may
enable the common water to achieve the requirements of water for food processing. The suspended
impurities in water can be removed by two ways, namely the water clarification and the filtration. The
removal of dissolved impurities in water can employ the lime soda method, the ion exchange method, the
electrodialysis and reverse osmosis method, i.e. the water softening and the demineralization.
Clarification of Water.In order to ensure the requirements of water for food processing, some clarification
methods such as the coagulation, the flocculation and the precipitation are usually employed to remove the
suspended solids in water. The coagulants used in water treatment mainly include the potassium and some
others. The chemistry name of potassium is sulfate aluminum, which is a duplicate salt and whose
molecular formula is (KAl˄SO4˅2)·12H2O or K˄SO 2 4˅ 3Al˄SO
2 4˅ 3·12H2O. Al˄SO
2 4˅ 3 has the hydrolysis
in the water to form the aluminum hydroxide colloid, which has the neutralization and the adsorption and
that can absorb the natural colloid and the suspended solids in water. The colloid particles in water are
gradually condensed into a thick floccus and then sinking. In the process of sedimentation, the suspended
solids are also wrapped into them and simultaneously subside. The amount of potassium alum is generally
0.001̚0.02%.
Filtration of Water.The filtration refers to the process that when the water flows through a porous
medium or a medium with pore structure (such as the sand), some suspended solids or colloid impurities in
water will be trapped in the pores or holes or the surface of medium, which can separate the impurities from
the mother liquor.
The filtrating equipment of water generally refers to the water quality filter. The filter is equipped with
the sand layer and the activated carbon layer. The water will flow from the inlet, and then it will flow
through the mesh, the pre-filters, the sand and the activated carbon layer. Finally the water will outflow
from the outlet. When the water quality filter is used for some time, it is necessary to deal with the sand
layer and the activated carbon layer. When the water consumption is fewer, the sand filter is generally
employed. The sand filter is the approved product in the water treating equipments. The water having
certain pressure flows into the vessel and enters the inner cavity through the pores on sand filter. Then the
impurities in water will be separated outside the sand filter, which can achieve the goal of purifying the
water.
Water Softening.In order to meet the requirements of the quality of water for food processing, it is
required to reduce the dissolved ionic components. The methods of water softening include the thermal
softening method, the lime softening method, the lime-soda softening method and the ion exchange
softening method.
Thermal softening method.The solubility of the two representative carbonate hardness compounds
which refer to the calcium bicarbonate and the magnesium bicarbonate will drop with the increase of
temperature. When the temperature is 100ć, they will decompose the calcium carbonate and magnesium
2674 Wujie et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 2671 – 2676

carbonate precipitation. Most of the calcium ions and the magnesium ions in water will be removed with the
precipitation of calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide. The employment of heating method only
removes the carbonate hardness without removing the non-carbonate hardness. In addition, the solubility of
calcium bicarbonate and the magnesium bicarbonate is still small even at 0ć. Therefore, if the all
magnesium salt types (including the calcium sulfate, the magnesium sulfate, the calcium chloride, etc) can
be converted into calcium bicarbonate and magnesium bicarbonate precipitation and then they are removed,
it will play a softening effect. In order to convert the non-carbonate hardness into carbonate hardness, it is
necessary to add some chemical reagents. And the common chemical reagents refer to the lime and the soda
ash.
Lime softening method.This method is suitable to the raw water which doesn’t request the highly
softening in which the carbonate hardness is higher and the non-carbonate hardness is lower. Meanwhile, it
can be also used in the pretreatment of ionic exchange water treatment. The quicklime will be configured
into the milk of lime (the main component is calcium hydroxide) and it is required to use the milk of lime to
remove the calcium bicarbonate, the magnesium bicarbonate and the carbon dioxide in water. Through the
lime treatment, some of the iron and silicon compounds in water can be also removed. And after the lime
treatment, most of the temporary hardness in water can be got rid of. And the residual temporary hardness
can be reduced to a value which is between 0.4mEq/L and 0.8mEq/L. The residual alkalinity is reduced to a
value which is between 0.8mEq/L and 1.2mEq/L. The organic matters are removed 25% and the silicate
compounds are reduced 30~35%. The residual quantity of iron in raw water is less than 0.1mg/L.
Lime-soda softening method.This method is suitable to the water in which the total hardness is greater
than the total alkalinity. And the lime is employed to remove the hardness of carbonate in water as well as
the soda ash is used to get rid of the hardness of non-carbonate. The residual hardness of soft water after
processing is from 0.25mEq/L to 0.35mEq/L.
Ionic exchange softening method.The ion exchanger has been widely used in the processing of raw
ˉ
water which contains soluble salts. For example, RSO3 H can be dissociated into RSO3 and Hˇ in water
ˇ
and R4 NOH can be dissociated into R4N +OH- in water. The raw water contains some cations such as the
potassium ions, the sodium ions, the calcium ions and the magnesium ions as well as some anions such as
ˉ
the sulfate ions, the chloride ions, the bicarbonate ions and HSiO3 . When the raw water flows through the
ˇ
cation resin layer, the cations in water are adsorbed by resin. The cation H on resin is replaced into the
ˉ
water and the anions in water are adsorbed by anion resin. The anion OH is replaced into water and the
ˇ ˉ
cations and anions in water are all adsorbed by resin. The H and OH in ion exchange resin are into the
water, which can achieve the purpose of water softening.
Electrodialysis method.Through the ion exchange membranes which have choice permeability and
good electrical conductivity and under the action of direct current field, the electrodialysis technology
refers to the phenomenon that the cations and anions in raw water can separately achieve the purification
through the anion exchange membrane and the cation exchange membrane according to the principle that
opposite charges attract and like charges repel. At present, the common electrodialysis contains the vertical
and the horizontal forms. The basic components include the board of fresh water and dense water rooms,
the ion exchange membrane, the electrodes, the water separators and the locking devices, etc. The assembly
forms of electrodialysis contain the singe type, the single multi-stage tandem type and the multiple tandem
type, etc.
Reverse osmosis method.The reverse osmosis refers to the phenomenon that the solvent (water) in
solution has been separated through the reverse osmosis membrane. At present, the common reverse
osmosis membranes include the cellulose acetate membrane (CA membrane) and the aromatic polyamide
fiber membrane, etc.
The structural styles of reverse osmosis devices mainly include the plate and frame type, the tube type,
the spiral type and the hollow fiber type, etc. The technical process of reverse osmosis devices usually
 Wujie et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 2671 – 2676 2675

employ the first-level or second-level reverse osmosis. The first level refers that the water quality
requirements can be achieved only by a reverse osmosis. And the second level refers that the water quality
requirements can be achieved by two reverse osmosises. In addition, there are also some multi-stage reverse
osmosis desalinations, but they are rarely used.
Disinfection of Water.In the process of water treatment, most of the substances such as the suspended
solids and the microorganisms are removed, but there are still some microorganisms remaining in the water.
Therefore, it is necessary to carry out the water disinfection.
The disinfection of water is to kill the pathogenic bacteria and other harmful microorganisms in water,
which can prevent the hazards of infectious diseases. However, the disinfection of water can’t kill the all
microorganisms in water. There are a lot of water disinfection methods. In the process of food production,
the commonest disinfection methods employed by water treatment are the chlorination disinfection, the
ozone disinfection and the UV disinfection.
Chlorination disinfection.The common chlorination disinfection mainly includes the chloramines, the
bleaching powder and the sodium hypochlorite. When the chloramine is employed to disinfect, the amount
of chlorine and ammonia should be added according to the proportion. And the general range is from 2:1 to
5:1. When the proportion of chlorine and ammonia is less than four and there is still some residual ammonia,
it will prevent the chlorine stink.
The available chlorine content of the general bleaching powder is 25%~35%, and when it is used, it will
be estimated as 25%. The disinfection of bleaching powder refers that the hypochlorous acid is produced in
the water. The bleaching powder is always matched with a concentration of 1~2% and it can be also drily
thrown. The sodium hypochlorite has the strong sterilization ability. The aqueous solution is very pure,
which doesn’t increase the water hardness. Therefore, it is better than the bleaching powder. And the main
shortcoming refers that the cost is too high.
Ozone disinfection.Ozone (O3) is a particularly strong oxidant. The instant sterilization nature of ozone
is superior to chlorine. At the normal temperature, the ozone is a gas which brings the blue color. But in
usual it looks colorless and the liquid ozone is dark blue. It is easier to dissolve in the water than the oxygen.
However, because we can only obtain the ozone with a low differential pressure, so the concentration is
quite low. The oxidizing power of ozone is very strong, so the inorganic and the organic matters in water
(including the microorganism) are all oxidized by the ozone. As the ozone is unstable, so it is required to
take it at any time and carry out the application on the spot. In most cases, the dry air or the oxygen is
employed to carry out the high-pressure discharge so as to produce the ozone. And the sterilization of ozone
is 15~30 times faster than the one of chlorine.
UV disinfection.The light is started from the blue-green color of spectrum. When the wavelength is
4900A~1400A, it will have the sterilization ability and the 2600A is the best. After the irradiation of UV on
microorganisms, the protein and the nucleic acid of microorganism can absorb the spectrum energy, which
will lead to the denaturation of protein and the death of microorganism. As for the clean transparent water,
the UV has certain penetrability, so it can carry out the water disinfection. The effect of UV disinfection
reduces with the increase of the treating water amount. Generally speaking, when the underground water is
disinfected by the 30 watt lamps, the lamps will disinfect no more than 15 cubic meters water per hour. The
time of UV disinfection as well as the contact time is short and the sterilization ability is strong. At the same
time, the equipment is simple and the operation management is convenient, which is advantageous for the
automatic control. However, it doesn’t have the ability of continuous sterilization, the service life of lamp is
too short and the cost is too high.

Conclusion

At present, as the natural conditions are poor, the pesticides and the fertilizers are irrational used, the animal
industry and the aquaculture are rapidly developed, a large number of animal husbandry and poultry
2676 Wujie et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 10 (2011) 2671 – 2676

manure is not well handled, the waste hasn’t well recycled and used and the industrial production has also
caused great pollution, all of them have greatly influenced the resource and the quality of water for food
processing. With the prominence of food safety issues, the phenomenon that strengthens and focuses on the
safety of water for food processing has become more and more obvious.

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